What to know:
- Bobb Vergiels, 74, spent 15 years announcing for the Detroit Tigers, 10 years as the Detroit Lions’ press box announcer and 24 years announcing football and basketball at Wayne State University.
- Vergiels announced two World Series during his time with the Tigers, including the team’s 2006 World Series run.
- He began experiencing kidney stones in 1981 and said he eventually passed more than 100.
- In 2024, a new urologist discovered Vergiels had stage 4 kidney failure. He was 72 at the time.
- Vergiels worried he was too old for a transplant, but doctors at Henry Ford Health determined he was healthy enough to undergo the procedure.
- While announcing a Toledo Walleye hockey game in January, a woman approached him with a message saying she had heard he needed a kidney and wanted to help.
DETROIT — If you’ve been to a sporting event in Southeast Michigan in the last 25 years, you’ve likely heard the voice of Bobb Vergiels.
Whether it was at Comerica Park, Ford Field, or Crisler Arena, his familiar voice welcomed fans for years.
“I was with the Tigers for 15 years, with the Detroit Lions as the press box announcer for 10, and I announced football and basketball at Wayne State University for 24 years,” Vergiels, 74, said. “Announcing for the Tigers was amazing for me because I was there for the 10 years that are arguably the 10 best years in Detroit Tigers history.”…